H. Stanley Harris, P.C.
130-A North McDowell Street
Charlotte, NC 28204-2268
Phone: 704-334-5600
Fax: 704-334-1654
WRONGFUL DEATH CASES IN NORTH CAROLINA
Wrongful death cases arising in North Carolina are governed by the Wrongful Death Act and the case law stemming from the construction of that Act. Wrongful death actions arise when the death of a person is caused by the “wrongful act, neglect, or default of another, such as would, if the injured person had lived, have entitled him to an action for damages therefore.”
An action for the wrongful death of a person can be brought only by the personal representative or collector of the deceased person. That would include the executor or executrix named in the deceased person’s Will, or the personal representative or collector appointed by the court to administer the estate of the deceased person.
Commonly, wrongful death actions arise in car, truck, or motorcycle collisions, and medical malpractice actions when a person dies as a result of the injuries suffered in those types of cases. However, wrongful death actions can also stem from intentional acts, such as murder, manslaughter, and death by vehicle cases as well as cases where a person fails, refuses, or neglects to care for another person for whom he or she is legally obligated to provide such care.
The executor or personal representative must pursue a claim against the negligent or at- fault party, and can recover various elements of damages for the death of a person by wrongful act. These damages would include expenses for care, treatment and hospitalization due to the injury resulting in death, compensation for pain and suffering for the deceased person between the time of injury and the time of death, the reasonable funeral expenses of the decedent, as well as the present monetary value of the decedent to his or her heirs for loss of the reasonably expected net income of the deceased person, the services, protection, care, and assistance of the deceased person, the society, companionship, comfort, guidance, kindly offices and advice of the deceased person to his or her heirs, and any punitive damages which may be recoverable pursuant to the law of North Carolina should the deceased person have survived the injury causing his or her death. All of these elements of damages are provable and admissible upon similar evidence as would be applicable in a case had the deceased person not died from his or her injuries.
Any money damages recovered as a result of a wrongful death case would be disposed of to the deceased person’s heirs to include a spouse, children, parents, and siblings as the situation may be at the time of the deceased person’s death. In such cases where a wrongful death action is maintained by the personal representative, the expenses of that wrongful death case may be paid from the assets of the estate in order to finance the proper prosecution of that wrongful death case, but any expenses paid from the assets of the estate must be paid back to the estate from the damages recovered in the wrongful death case before those assets are distributed to the heirs at law of the deceased person.
Thus, one of the first things that the personal representative, executor, executrix, or collector of a decedent’s estate must determine is if there is a potential wrongful death case arising out of the death of the decedent. If so, the personal representative should contact an attorney experienced in handling wrongful death cases in order to pursue a wrongful death action on behalf of the deceased person's estate.